Just a year has passed since Apple was the most valuable listed company in the
world, and its design chief Sir Jonathan Ive was boasting that its “goal is
not to make money”.

The company will be under pressure to demonstrate that its focus has shifted when it delivers its third quarter results on Thursday.

The iPhone and iPad maker is expected to reveal $35bn (£22.9bn) of sales in the third quarter, but the figure is unlikely to be enough to allay fears that Apple’s strong performance of last summer was a high point it will not be able to revisit.

The Cupertino business is expected to deliver quarterly sales of $35.05bn at its third quarter results on Tuesday, almost flat on the same period the previous year, whilst operating profits are thought to have climbed just 2pc to $8.99bn.

Although the figures would be the envy of most companies, they are a long way short of the juggernaut growth Apple has achieved in previous years, and which last autumn propelled its share price part the $700-a-share mark.

Shares now stand at $424.95 and have steadily fallen on fears that the company has lost its innovative drive and that demand for its iPhones is starting to dry up. Analysts will be watching closely for any sign this is the case this week, following reports that the company is slashing orders of its gadgets because of a drop in sales.

Earlier this month, Brian Blair, an influential analyst at Wedge Partners, reported that the company had slashed orders of all models of its iPhone by as much as a fifth in the face of intensifying competition from other mobile producers such as Samsung.

Apple would still be increasing its revenues at that rate, but its trajectory would be a long way short of the explosive growth it achieved in the first half of last year.

At that time, Sir Jonathan told business leaders in London for the Olympics that Apple was not chasing profits. “Our goal absolutely at Apple is not to make money. This may sound a little flippant, but it’s the truth,” he said.

Sir Jonathan has been leading the charge on upgrading Apple’s operating system so that it is easier to use. The company is also understood to have bought Hop Stop, a popular American journey-planning app, and Locationary, a Canadian mapping company, in order to improve the maps service that has been a weak spot in the past.